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Mr cavendish on the Torpedo. 
XII. An Account of fome Attempts to imitate the Effects of 
the Torpedo by Electricity . By the Hon. Henry Caven- 
diih, F. R. S. 
R. Jan. 1 8, LTHOUGII the proofs brought by Mr, 
-E** walsh, that the phenomena of the tor- 
pedo are produced by electricity, are fuch as leave little 
room for doubt ; yet it muft be confeffed, that there are 
fome circumftances, which at firft fight feem fcarcely 
to be reconciled with this luppofition. I propofe, there- 
fore, to examine whether thefe circumftances are really 
incompatible with fuch an opinion ; and to give an ac- 
count of fome attempts to imitate the effects of this anf* 
mal by electricity. 
It appears from Mr. walsh’s experiments, that the 
torpedo is not conftantly eleCtrical, but hath a power of 
throwing at pleafure a great quantity of eleCtric fluid 
from one fur face of thofe parts which he calls the elec- 
trical organs to the other; that is, from the upper furface 
to the lower, or from the lower to the upper, the experi- 
ments do not determine which ; by which means a fhock 
is produced in the body of a perfon who makes any part 
of the circuit which the fluid takes in its motion to reftore 
the equilibrium. 
One 
